The View From Here

A stunning debut novel in the tradition of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Anna Anderson Thomas has devoted her life to stepping lightly around her husband's vast silences and raising their sons. But now, with a sixth child on the way--a girl this time, she's sure--Anna faces a challenge that threatens to destroy the family she's fought so hard to preserve.

Evoking a world of casual prejudice and commonplace poverty, Jackson tells the haunting story of Anna Anderson Thomas, whose life in the rural South has edged slowly toward loneliness. Married in her youth to her beloved J.T., she has devoted her days to raising their five boys, all while stepping softly around her husband's silences. Now, with their sixth child on the way -- a girl this time, she is sure -- Anna faces a challenge that threatens to destroy the family she's fought so hard to preserve.